General Questions Thread

[Ridwan]

All states are artificial to begin with, but how long has a polity been around as it is does matter in determining how "organic" it is.

[DonQuigleone]

Originally Posted by Ridwan

Indonesian Malay is pretty mongrelized though.

Still called malay though. However, that's what you get when a language becomes a lingua franca for a region, like Malay did.

Sumatra would be rather hard to control from Malaya. Historically, it has always been Malayan Peninsula under Sumatran domination.

Any harder then controlling Malaysian Borneo from the Peninsula?

Originally Posted by GenjiChan

That's based on a foreigners point of view..

Eh, prior to the Spanish arriving the Philipines were a collection of Aboriginal tribes, and feuding minor kingdoms and sultanates, with no single eoncompassing culture, religion or language. Even today there are 171 languages spoken throughout the archipelago. Hell, even the name "Philippines" was given to the archipelago by the Spanish (naming it after Philip II).

Originally Posted by Hasumi

^ Not really, before the colonisers came our ancestors didn't really treat the entire achipelago as a single 'country'.

Exactly, were it not for the Spanish it's entirely likely you could have 3, 10 or 100 different states in the region, just like there were several states throughout Indonesia before the Dutch arrived, and were it not for the dutch, Indonesia would probably still consist of a number of independent states(where the borders would fall, I can't say). The unifying principle came from how the Colonisers controlled them.

It's also a similar story for India as well, who's unification is just as artificial as that of Indonesia or the Philipines, though India did have some Empires in the past that controlled the entire subcontinent. But that's nothing like, say, China which has existed in a largely unified form for the last 3-5 thousand years (with a few interregnums).

[Ridwan]

Originally Posted by DonQuigleone

Any harder then controlling Malaysian Borneo from the Peninsula?

The strongest Peninsular polity in history, Malacca Sultanate, did subjugated Riau, but never went beyond that. Aceh however, later totally encircled Malaccan coreland in Peninsula itself, before Malacca itself was conquered by Portuguese. And let's not get into Srivijaya....

Before Malaysia, there was never any Peninsular polity that once established any foothold on Borneo. Brunei actually remained strong enough to maintain independence, even from Europeans, until 19th century.

[DonQuigleone]

Originally Posted by Ridwan

The strongest Peninsular polity in history, Malacca Sultanate, did subjugated Riau, but never went beyond that. Aceh however, later totally encircled Malaccan coreland in Peninsula itself, before Malacca itself was conquered by Portuguese. And let's not get into Srivijaya....

Before Malaysia, there was never any Peninsular polity that once established any foothold on Borneo. Brunei actually remained strong enough to maintain independence, even from Europeans, until 19th century.

Exactly, military considerations from the gunpowder and pre-gunpowder ages mean very little in the modern era, when controlling a territory depends a lot less on force projection and a lot more on politics and diplomacy.

If by some quirk of history it had been great Britain that had acquired Aceh rather then the Netherlands, it would have probably ended up within Malaysia. And politically there would have been few issues, as the people there, like on the peninsula, are "Malay", whereas in comparison, those people would have less in common with the people from Java(Indonesia's center of power).

[Daniel E.]

Rules for this thread:

1.- Only purposeful questions may be posted here. If anyone posts a pointless silly question it will be deleted and the poster may earn a warning and/or infraction.

2.- Only serious answers are allowed. Don't try to mock or insult anyone posting a question with your answers.

3.- No long discussion shall be tolerated here. This is a place for people to find answers.

If you guys wish to continue this conversation, please use a different thread for it. I am also willing to move the posts and create the topic if there isn't a similar thread for this already.

[RRW]

So how fast you guys reading a manga?

I done some test and found out i can read 2 volume in 1 hour

[felix]

Originally Posted by RRW

So how fast you guys reading a manga?

I done some test and found out i can read 2 volume in 1 hour

Depends how think the text is, doesn't it?

[RRW]

Originally Posted by felix

Depends how think the text is, doesn't it?

well let say you reading Naruto (which probably have Average text-heaviness)

[DonQuigleone]

Originally Posted by RRW

So how fast you guys reading a manga?

I done some test and found out i can read 2 volume in 1 hour

Sounds about right for me. Maybe a little slower. Which is why I've often found Manga to be poor value (though in Japan they're much more reasonable).

[GenjiChan]

Originally Posted by RRW

So how fast you guys reading a manga?

I done some test and found out i can read 2 volume in 1 hour

Probably... one hour per volume... then reread again;;;

[Kudryavka]

So, the word lolita. It's originally a cute name for a girl, then our good friend Nabokov nicknamed one of the characters in his book, Lolita, Lolita. Said character was a twelve year old (can't remember exactly, it's been a while since I read it) precocious sexual deviant who repeatedly exploits her mother's lover by bribing him with sexual favors. (Un)surprisingly, the name Lolita disappears off the face of the earth soon after.

Later it becomes a word used in "Lolita Complex" (which may be Engrish) to describe someone who's basically a pedo. Even later, the term is shortened to "lolicon", and simply means someone who likes seeing children or underdeveloped looking characters and is not necessarily a pedophile. Or just "loli", which refers to said characters.

Anyway, question is, loli is for boys and girls right? I know people throw around "shotacon" for boys, but imho lolicon should be the same regardless of gender. Is it?

[DonQuigleone]

Originally Posted by Kudryavka

So, the word lolita. It's originally a cute name for a girl, then our good friend Nabokov nicknamed one of the characters in his book, Lolita, Lolita. Said character was a twelve year old (can't remember exactly, it's been a while since I read it) precocious sexual deviant who repeatedly exploits her mother's lover by bribing him with sexual favors. (Un)surprisingly, the name Lolita disappears off the face of the earth soon after.

That's not quite the plot. In fact, while the girl is precocious, the male protagonist is a pedophile who falls in love with her, marries her mother, and then murders the mother. The titular "Lolita" is fairly innocent (though precocious), though I only read the first half of the book (it's got very flowery, that is difficult to read).

Anyway, question is, loli is for boys and girls right? I know people throw around "shotacon" for boys, but imho lolicon should be the same regardless of gender. Is it?

No, Lolicon only applies to girls, because a Loli is only a young (or young looking) girl. Shotacon is indeed the correct designation for the opposite gender relationship.

[Kudryavka]

Originally Posted by DonQuigleone

That's not quite the plot. In fact, while the girl is precocious, the male protagonist is a pedophile who falls in love with her, marries her mother, and then murders the mother. The titular "Lolita" is fairly innocent (though precocious), though I only read the first half of the book (it's got very flowery, that is difficult to read).


No, Lolicon only applies to girls, because a Loli is only a young (or young looking) girl. Shotacon is indeed the correct designation for the opposite gender relationship.

I know the guy was instigating a lot of it at first, but I just referred to the last parts in which she does exploit him with sexual favors to keep in scope of the word "lolita". Trust me, by the end she's a little nymph and it's hard to feel bad for her when she *SPOILER*. Though arguably corrupted by the guy, so maybe not her fault. Then again there was that guy at camp, it's a very debatable topic.

Ok, so lolicon is only for girls? Just wondering. The story behind "shotacon" is a lot less interesting and more anticlimatic, if I heard it right.

[erneiz_hyde]

Originally Posted by erneiz_hyde

Btw, I have a question. Does anyone know the name of the voice actor who voiced one of the common thugs in Hitman:Absolution and also one of the thugs during Arkham City's tutorial with Cat Woman? It feels like I've heard him from somewhere, but can't quite remember it. If it helps, he's the one who speaks the line "he's the scalpel, we're the hammer" in Hope Fair mission in H:A.

I'm reiterating this. And asks another question:

To be honest, I don't really get the concept of "double standard". How exactly do you define this? Because what I see from things that are supposedly double standards are just "different set of standard coincidentally different from mine", and thus most of the time I see someone's accuse of a double standard I can only see that as ad hominem/name calling. And how is "double speak" different from "hypocrisy"?

[Ledgem]

Originally Posted by erneiz_hyde

To be honest, I don't really get the concept of "double standard". How exactly do you define this?

Two different standards for similar situations. It's usually brought up when indicating unfairness.

As a rough example, consider the scenario of men and women in the same jobs, where the women are paid less for their time. It's a double standard: men and women are considered equal (at least by western society standards) and they're both performing the same tasks, yet men are being held to a different standard (pay scale) than women.

In common usage you're more likely to see "double standard" being applied to behaviors, rules, and judgments, though.

[erneiz_hyde]

Originally Posted by Ledgem

Two different standards for similar situations. It's usually brought up when indicating unfairness.

As a rough example, consider the scenario of men and women in the same jobs, where the women are paid less for their time. It's a double standard: men and women are considered equal (at least by western society standards) and they're both performing the same tasks, yet men are being held to a different standard (pay scale) than women.

In common usage you're more likely to see "double standard" being applied to behaviors, rules, and judgments, though.

OK, I can get that example. How about this:

This happens sometimes, when some people complain that they hate BL fanservice, someone else is bound to say that "if the BL service is replaced by yuri service then none of you would've complained, what double standard." or different variations of it, indicating people to stfu. I often see "double standard" being used more in this manner than the example you gave above.

[Ledgem]

Originally Posted by erneiz_hyde

This happens sometimes, when some people complain that they hate BL fanservice, someone else is bound to say that "if the BL service is replaced by yuri service then none of you would've complained, what double standard." or different variations of it, indicating people to stfu. I often see "double standard" being used more in this manner than the example you gave above.

It depends on what the complaint is over. Are people complaining about the fanservice? If so, it's a double standard: people (most likely the male audience) dislike boys-love fanservice and may loudly decry it, but enjoy yuri fanservice and wouldn't speak out against it. It's a double-standard because we're talking about fanservice, but the genders involved are getting different treatment.

What gets tricky is in how you group things. The way I've grouped it above is to talk about fanservice in general, but what's arguably being discussed is sexual attraction. As a heterosexual male, if I profess attraction for women and repulsion for men, have I set a double standard? One could argue that I have, but it seems a bit ridiculous: men and women are very different when it comes to attraction.

So getting back to your example, if people claim that they hate all fanservice in anime, but only complain when they see boys-love fanservice and not when yuri comes up, it is a double standard: they have made a judgement on all fanservice, but are not treating all fanservice equally. On the other hand, if they say that they hate boys-love fanservice but don't talk about yuri, I'm not so sure that the accusation of a double standard would be appropriate.

[erneiz_hyde]

Originally Posted by Ledgem

So getting back to your example, if people claim that they hate all fanservice in anime, but only complain when they see boys-love fanservice and not when yuri comes up, it is a double standard: they have made a judgement on all fanservice, but are not treating all fanservice equally. On the other hand, if they say that they hate boys-love fanservice but don't talk about yuri, I'm not so sure that the accusation of a double standard would be appropriate.

But that bolded definition would also lump people who actually like fanservices in general but loathe specific fanservices, wouldn't it? To elaborate, in this case, I don't particularly see where it's a double standard. It's just a matter of preference, but when people complain about it, first and foremost they most likely get accused of having a double standard instead.

Add: Also another separate thing, would this be considered a double standard: Companies not hiring people who don't have sufficient credential or certificates? How about, trusting the police more than your average joe on a security matter?

[DonQuigleone]

I don't think complaining about a specific form of fanservice would be a double standard, as for viewers Yuri fanservice and Yaoi fanservice are in fact different. So saying "The Yaoi scenes in this show put me off, but I don't mind the Yuri" isn't really a double standard, as you're just stating a preference.

However if you were to say "Yaoi is the cancer that is killing Anime, Yuri is it's salvation!" that would be a double standard, because there you're making a value judgement, whereas before you were simply stating a preference.

[Guernsey]

Anyone know how to to do those charge super arts in Street Fighter series? Or know of any easier way to do them? Its very difficult for me to do this Dualshock PS2/PS3 Controller.